WOLF HOFFMANN Says 'It's Super Important' For ACCEPT To Keep Making New Music

In a recent interview with Chaotic Riffs magazine, ACCEPT guitarist Wolf Hoffmann spoke about how he has managed to keep the band going for more than four decades despite all the personnel shuffles and changes in the music industry. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think if you're loyal to the heritage of ACCEPT, and that's what we're trying to do… We're not trying to reinvent the wheel; we're trying to write songs that we could have written all these years ago. And that's usually my motto when I site there and I… As a matter of fact, I was sitting here two minutes ago working on a new song… And I always ask myself: does it really sound like ACCEPT that people know? It should be new and exciting for us and all that, but it shouldn't be anything different necessarily. We've got our niche, we've got our market, and that's what people appreciate about us."

Hoffmann went on to say that "it's super important" for ACCEPT to continue to make new music. "I think the fans appreciate that," he said. "And it's a good challenge for ourselves. I vividly remember when we relaunched the band and we found [current ACCEPT singer] Mark Tornillo, we said, 'Hey, if we're gonna do this, let's do it properly and let's do proper albums and not just play the old stuff.' Because we could have done that; we could have said, 'It's not even worth bothering… Why bother? Nobody wants to hear new songs. They all wanna just hear 'Balls To The Wall' and 'Princess Of The Dawn'. Which is true to an extent, but at the same time it's kind of lame that you become your own cover band in a way. So we said, 'Hey, we did it back then. We wrote meaningful songs. Why can't we do it now?'"

Hoffmann is the sole remaining original member of ACCEPT, which he formed in 1976 in the town of Solingen, Germany with singer Udo Dirkschneider and bassist Peter Baltes.

ACCEPT's latest studio album, "Too Mean To Die", was released in January 2021 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was the group's first without Baltes, who exited ACCEPT in November 2018. He has since been replaced by Martin Motnik. ACCEPT's lineup has also been expanded with the addition of a third guitarist, Philip Shouse, who originally filled in for Uwe Lulis during 2019's "Symphonic Terror" tour, before being asked to join the band permanently.

In a 2022 interview with the
"Sally Steele Rocks! Show", Wolf was asked why there have been so many personnel changes in ACCEPT over the years. "I'm the big bad wolf. I kick people out just when I feel like it," he quipped. "Well, actually, to be halfway serious for a second, it's just the way it goes sometimes. We started off as teenagers in a sort of garage-type band. And people grow up and they get married, they have different interests, and before you know it, one guy leaves the band and a replacement comes, and then the replacement leaves after a while. It's just the way it goes; it's a natural progression. I wish it wasn't that way. People develop different interests and life changes, so people leave. I'm the only guy who's never left. I'm like the last man standing."